


Love Me Nots

by bijouni



Category: Free!
Genre: Gen, M/M, and haru was all conscious about it, inspired by a post i read about the meaning of the flowers, written back in S1 when rin presumably still hated haruka
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-11 11:00:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5624563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bijouni/pseuds/bijouni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>im not sure how i feel about this one. there's a couple things i likely won't reupload b/c i kind of hate them and this one straddled that line. *shrugs* maybe deleted. who knows. thanks for reading!</p></blockquote>





	Love Me Nots

They say the marguerite flower represented true friendship, a love hidden within the heart. A sentiment that was as precious and rare as the Greek word the name derived from. Or so, that was all Haruka’s late grandmother told him. He wasn’t sure how much of the folklore he actually believed in, and if anyone other than her had confided this to him he probably would’ve brushed it off as nonsense and think nothing of it again, like how sneezing meant someone was talking about you. It was unconvincingly foreordained.

Haruka lazily twirled the stem of the blossom between his thumb and middle finger. A bunch bloomed in white to the left of the stairs he perched on outside his house. They appeared to almost glow under the sunlight, moving gently in the wind every few seconds. The daisies made him think of his grandma, but it also made his thoughts linger on someone else as well…

_“He loves me, he loves me not. It’s a game of sorts people play to determine whether the person of their desire returns their affection, Haruka. Romantic, isn't it?”_

He could recall her dry, amused laughter at his utter puzzlement and awe. People actually played games like that, leaving their fate up to a number of flower petals? Haruka didn’t understand it then, and he couldn’t say he fully understood it now.

He pulled one petal off idly. **He loves me...** Another. **He loves me not. He loves me... He loves me not. He loves me…** By the fifteenth pluck, he had paused, his hand hovering over the last petal.

**He loves me not.**

Haruka let the daisy fall to the ground. It was a stupid game anyway.

“Haru!” He glanced up to see Makoto jogging up the steps, waving to him. Haruka hauled himself to his feet. They were going to be late for school if they didn’t get going. Makoto held his smile after Haruka gave a nonchalant greeting before his eyes flicked to the side. “Ah! The marguerites are in bloom.” He rested his hands on his hips. “They sure are pretty.”

Haruka shrugged.

Makoto moved one arm to scratch the back of his head, giving a thoughtful expression. “If I remember correctly, there’s a game that goes with it.”

“That _he loves me not_ thing? My grandma told me about that.” He didn’t mean to sound as bitter as he had, and he knew Makoto had caught his animosity by the surprised look on his face followed by his usual all-knowing smile.

“Yes, that too,” he almost chuckled, “but I mean the original French version. _He loves me a lot. He loves me a little. He loves me passionately. He loves me madly. He loves me not at all._ There’s more variety than its adopted version.”

Haruka furrowed his brows at that. He never heard that version before. He subconsciously took another daisy from the assortment, plucking the white petals while relaying the words in his head. **He loves me a lot.** Pluck. **He loves me passionately.** Pluck. He felt his cheeks grow warm at the choice of words. Pluck. He nearly forgot Makoto was there and could probably see his reddened face, but for some reason he didn’t stop. When he reached the end, he paused, his hand hovering over the last petal again.

“What you get?”

“N-Nothing. We’re gonna be late.” He plucked the last petal off and started down the steps.

**He loves me.**

**Author's Note:**

> im not sure how i feel about this one. there's a couple things i likely won't reupload b/c i kind of hate them and this one straddled that line. *shrugs* maybe deleted. who knows. thanks for reading!


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